Rat found on London-bound Air India flight

New Delhi: An Air India flight that had taken off from Mumbai for London on Wednesday returned to Mumbai due to a “suspected” sighting of a rat on board. 

 

On the incident of rodent sighting, Air India issued a statement, saying, “AI-131, Mumbai to London (flight) returned to Mumbai on Wednesday due to suspected rat sighting. Though the presence of the rodent was not confirmed, but keeping passenger safety in mind, the aircraft was brought back. ... Our engineering team is investigating the incident. A standby aircraft was made available to fly the passengers to London. The aircraft with the suspected rodent will be fumigated as per procedure in such cases of rodent sighting.” 

 

Meanwhile, in another incident, an Air India Express plane that was moving slowly from the taxiway for eventual take off at Amritsar, stopped in its tracks and moved back after the pilot sighted a dog on the runway, sources said.  The plane was scheduled to fly to Sharjah.